Romanticism: Poetry and Literature 1798 ~ 1832 "Romanticism...is an international artistic and philosophical movement that redefined the fundamental ways in which people in Western cultures thought about themselves and about their world."
"The Romantics tended to define and to present the imagination as our ultimate "shaping" or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity. It is dynamic, an active, rather than passive power, with many functions."
After the rebirth of Greek and Roman classicism from the late 17th to 18th centuries (Neoclassicism), artists in England began to experiment with emotional and imaginative expression. This transition from the values of neoclassicism yielded a fresh approach to literature with new sets of values. Describing the characteristics of the romantic literary movement can be exhaustive due to it's myriad of definitions. One may glean a general understanding of the movement by comparing it to the the neoclassicism which it revolted against:
FOCAL POINTS OF ROMANTICISM
-Imagination
-Emotion
-Freedom
Characteristics and Values of Neoclassicism and Literature (1660-1798)
emotional restraint
order, logic, and balance
technical precision and clarity
emphasis of form over content
wit > imagination
Romanticism and Literature (1798-1832)
emphasis on individualism and spontaneity
quest for beauty: devotion to non-didactic, "pure beauty."
subjectivity
solitary life rather than life in society
stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, geniality
imagination > reason
preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in general
Putting all of these elements together, literary techniques of English romanticism take on these characteristics:
Romantic Techniques 1. Remoteness of settings in time and space.
2. Improbable plots.
3. Inadequate or unlikely characterization.
4. Authorial subjectivity.
5. Socially "harmful morality;" a world of "lies."
In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge collaborated on a joint poetic publication titled Lyrical Ballads. This was a pioneering work encompassing the ideals and techniques of Romantic poetry, and for this reason the work receives credit for starting Romantic Literary movement in that year.
An example of Romantic Poetry- "Desire", by S.T. Coleridge:
"Desire is Love's pure flame ;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,
That takes its meaning from the nobler part,
And but translates the language of the heart." This is an example of romanticism becuase it conveys emotion, one of the key focal points of romanticism.
"Romanticism...is an international artistic and philosophical movement that redefined the fundamental ways in which people in Western cultures thought about themselves and about their world."
"The Romantics tended to define and to present the imagination as our ultimate "shaping" or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the creative powers of nature or even deity. It is dynamic, an active, rather than passive power, with many functions."
After the rebirth of Greek and Roman classicism from the late 17th to 18th centuries (Neoclassicism), artists in England began to experiment with emotional and imaginative expression. This transition from the values of neoclassicism yielded a fresh approach to literature with new sets of values. Describing the characteristics of the romantic literary movement can be exhaustive due to it's myriad of definitions. One may glean a general understanding of the movement by comparing it to the the neoclassicism which it revolted against:
Characteristics and Values of
Neoclassicism and Literature (1660-1798)
Romanticism and Literature (1798-1832)
Putting all of these elements together, literary techniques of English romanticism take on these characteristics:
Romantic Techniques
1. Remoteness of settings in time and space.
2. Improbable plots.
3. Inadequate or unlikely characterization.
4. Authorial subjectivity.
5. Socially "harmful morality;" a world of "lies."
In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge collaborated on a joint poetic publication titled Lyrical Ballads. This was a pioneering work encompassing the ideals and techniques of Romantic poetry, and for this reason the work receives credit for starting Romantic Literary movement in that year.
An example of Romantic Poetry- "Desire", by S.T. Coleridge:
"Desire is Love's pure flame ;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,
That takes its meaning from the nobler part,
And but translates the language of the heart."
This is an example of romanticism becuase it conveys emotion, one of the key focal points of romanticism.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html
http://www.uh.edu/engines/romanticism/introduction.html
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/3intro.html
http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/poems_links.html